Bomb blast kills 12 in Afghanistan: official

A Taliban-style bomb killed 12 civilians on Wednesday when their van struck the device in eastern Afghanistan, an official said.

The victims were heading home from a shopping trip when they hit the bomb -- known as an IED or improvised explosive device.

"There was an explosion on a civilian mini van on Wednesday. Twelve people including women and children and men, were killed in that explosion," Dawlat Khan Qayomi, district chief of Tani, in Khost province, told AFP.